Teabags-DN Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 And I'm a bit disappointed and hopeful, and not sure if I want to stick around or not. I ran around and grinded out some levels, visited some of the solo instances, and crafted some things. I was a bit let down by the lack of detail up to this point.... the solo instances are literally a few hallways with a boss at the end. The monsters don't drop loot, just locked boxes that I need to purchase keys for.... It felt like an abomination compared to the old Aion. I need to know, before abandoning this game to fond memories... Does it get better after 70? Is the late game still wonderful? How dependent is the game on the cash shop? Before I continue playing this game, I thought I'd visit the forums and ask if it gets better down the road. Perhaps I've just hit a bad patch that is older... Let me see if I can organize my questions here... 1. What are the late-game instances like now? I have fond memories of the unique and beautiful instances in Aion. Raksang prison, Esoterrace, Besh, Tiamatra, the cool solo instances like skyforge and Kromede's Trial, ect. These were more than just instances where you have a short hall and a dozen monsters. The creatures dropped loot, the bosses had phases and required knowledge and a bit of finess + gear. My biggest fear here is that loot from instances can only be unlocked by the cash shop. 2.What is the economy like? I hope and pray it isn't dependent on the cash shop, which would be an abomination. The Aion I remember was self-sustaining. I could craft and sell things to afford my house bills and buy other things. I remember that I'd spend plenty of money on NCoin already, for accessories and such when the game wasn't dependent on the cash shop. 3.What's the population like? As an asmo, I always knew there more Elyos, but at some point I recall the tides shifting dramatically and it was a huge buzz kill (to never, ever have a fort.... ever). I always wondered about that too.... asmos and elyos both seemed comparably cool to me. 4.Is this game dying or thriving? There was always that death-knell-tomorrow hanging over everyone's head and the threat of game extinction... Sorry for the wall of text. For anyone whose read this far, I'd greatly appreciate feedback on this before I devote any of my free time to grinding out a character all over again. Thanks in advance! Cheers, Allen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheesecake-DN Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 No cashshop is required for any loot anywhere, sans the lockboxes, which you can just throw out, and the occasional event that will lock the best tier stuff behind a paywall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryos-DN Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 High level instances are really good, way superior to crap like BT (which is just as simple as the "hallways and final boss" instances you visited). You just encountered the "filler" instances of 5.0. Visit DD, visit CoE, visit ToE, visit BoS, visit Dredgion Defense (if still around), maybe even AoE. Even PvP instances are far more creative than the repeated and dull Dredgions (Evergale Canyon, for instance). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calista-DN Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 2 hours ago, Bryos-KT said: High level instances are really good, way superior to crap like BT (which is just as simple as the "hallways and final boss" instances you visited). You just encountered the "filler" instances of 5.0. Visit DD, visit CoE, visit ToE, visit BoS, visit Dredgion Defense (if still around), maybe even AoE. Even PvP instances are far more creative than the repeated and dull Dredgions (Evergale Canyon, for instance). If you liked Esoterrace, then you'll probably like COE, and if you liked Besh, TS or Raksang then that would fall more into DD/TOE/BOS (the 2 latter are likely still currently the most challenging instances). AOE/TTC (just changed to 3 man) are pretty dull, as is Fissure (FOO). People run FOO for exp and the rewards have been improved but the story is no where near as interesting as skyforge or Kromede's. You may also want to check out the 6.0 patch in these forums since a lot of information that people will give you will likely change when that patch comes out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teabags-DN Posted January 12, 2018 Author Share Posted January 12, 2018 I'll look into this stuff. I haven't been able to find an MMO like Aion (I don't think there is one). I'll stick around and investigate. Thanks for the replies! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stresstest-KT Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 I'm also re-visting Aion and had the same questions. Haven't played since release and I also haven't been able to find another game as fun as Aion used to be. I'm currently d/ling the game, but after reading this maybe I should cancel it. So we now have too pay $$ to open chests for loot from dungeons? No one mentioned the population question for this game. I would really like to know if it's worth trying to come back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryos-DN Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 Lets clear it up for everyone. The following items: <-- Power Lockbox <- Fortune Lockbox <- Utility Lockbox They are indeed items which require keys that can (realistically) only be obtained from BCM. Sure, maybe p2w or whatever, but, nobody ever uses them. They are just there as something extra. As you kill stuff, they will drop and everyone will pass them because they are virtually useless. they are just there. Almost no one buys those keys either. You dont need ANYTHING to get loot form instances, or any kind of loot, other than the instance's own limitations. But you dont have to pay at all to get stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyali-DN Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 9 hours ago, Teabags-DN said: 3.What's the population like? As an asmo, I always knew there more Elyos, but at some point I recall the tides shifting dramatically and it was a huge buzz kill (to never, ever have a fort.... ever). I always wondered about that too.... asmos and elyos both seemed comparably cool to me. After the merge which happened a few months ago, the population on DN increased and I'd say it's the more populated server nowadays. Speaking of Elyos and Asmos, Elyos seem to have more active players right now but this could change anytime since both sides have their number of players, some are just a bit more active right now than the others. P.S. Your name sounds so familir! 2 hours ago, 1s1F4FB4-KT said: No one mentioned the population question for this game. I would really like to know if it's worth trying to come back. In your case since you are from KT according to your forum name, it really depends if you're Elyos or Asmo. Quite a few Elyos from KT have used the opportunity to transfer to DN during the merging period so the population shifted over to DN. As for now, I believe Asmos are still quite active, more than Elyos, but like I said, this could change anytime just like on DN between the factions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kubei-DN Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 I don't recommending stressing yourself over the game too much, after 6.0 being announced, lots of players will probably relax and wait for the next patch to come. I say, find yourself a nice legion, do some runs, and remember to have fun. Danaria Asmo is quite populated too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzz-KT Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 >1. What are the late-game instances like now? I have fond memories of the unique and beautiful instances in Aion. Raksang prison, Esoterrace, Besh, Tiamatra, the cool solo instances like skyforge and Kromede's Trial, ect. These were more than just instances where you have a short hall and a dozen monsters. The creatures dropped loot, the bosses had phases and required knowledge and a bit of finess + gear. New instances are exciting until you clear them a few times and the novelty wears off as always. >2.What is the economy like? I hope and pray it isn't dependent on the cash shop, which would be an abomination. The Aion I remember was self-sustaining. I could craft and sell things to afford my house bills and buy other things. I remember that I'd spend plenty of money on NCoin already, for accessories and such when the game wasn't dependent on the cash shop. The *best* gear is from cash shop RNG game (magna carta polearm for glad) and can't be found in game. It's about 2b kinah if you want to buy the box on KT-A, not sure about other servers. You can also get a provenance PA for about 600-700M kinah which is not BiS but is pretty close; this is obtainable without cash shop but good luck getting an alliance together to kill the level 80 world bosses for a chance at a random drop weapon (you don't choose it). Most provenance gear came from events, some from cash shop and the tiny minority from world bosses. Once you do have the items though it is cheap to make a +15 set since you can get omegas from the luna daily and temperings + supplements from the luna weekly frequently. Be aware that there are people with 300b+ kinah who have +7 accessories and +20 gear. >3.What's the population like? As an asmo, I always knew there more Elyos, but at some point I recall the tides shifting dramatically and it was a huge buzz kill (to never, ever have a fort.... ever). I always wondered about that too.... asmos and elyos both seemed comparably cool to me. Population is pretty even on KT; the buffs for not taking forts keeps the pendulum swinging from asmo/elyos fort domination with a period of about 1.5 months. People are lazy and only fight when they have level 9 siege buff though so don't expect much from sieges. Panesterra is fun again though if you can attend. >4.Is this game dying or thriving? There was always that death-knell-tomorrow hanging over everyone's head and the threat of game extinction.. Dying - GMs won't ban cheaters permanently, just about the only thing you will get banned for is harassment. There are a lot of new players running around because of the new patch but I'd expect a sharp decline in interest after a month. Eventually it just feels like queueing for the same instances with the same people to fight the same cheaters or even worse get dodged and just waste the entries and time every single day. Open world pvp is masochism, going to Illuma for some fun inevitably results in getting your name called out on elyos LFG and within minutes there will be a posse of cleric/sm/sw hunting for you so even if you are with a group it is only a matter of time before you are outnumbered. If you are a sin you can expect around 40% of the people who do leave the relative safety of town to see you in hide and alert their friends to your presence as well. I'm sure the same is true if you are an elyos invading Norsvold too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheesecake-DN Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 6 minutes ago, zzz-KT said: The *best* gear is from cash shop RNG game (magna carta polearm for glad) and can't be found in game. It's about 2b kinah if you want to buy the box on KT-A, not sure about other servers. You can also get a provenance PA for about 600-700M kinah which is not BiS but is pretty close; this is obtainable without cash shop but good luck getting an alliance together to kill the level 80 world bosses for a chance at a random drop weapon (you don't choose it). Most provenance gear came from events, some from cash shop and the tiny minority from world bosses. Magna Carta and +11 manastone bundles and the phantom charger are no longer in the dice game. They replaced it with a prov weapon box. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StaNooblaitK-KT Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 Run while you can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryos-DN Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 Killing world bosses is a lot easier now. You dont need more than 24 people like you used to. You can just do it with 12 people, even 6 if you get top tier players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevilNest-KT Posted January 12, 2018 Share Posted January 12, 2018 9 hours ago, Bryos-KT said: Lets clear it up for everyone. The following items: <-- Power Lockbox <- Fortune Lockbox <- Utility Lockbox They are indeed items which require keys that can (realistically) only be obtained from BCM. Sure, maybe p2w or whatever, but, nobody ever uses them. They are just there as something extra. As you kill stuff, they will drop and everyone will pass them because they are virtually useless. they are just there. Almost no one buys those keys either. You dont need ANYTHING to get loot form instances, or any kind of loot, other than the instance's own limitations. But you dont have to pay at all to get stuff. i use to run DS and SDS and and I've got a few keys from there, sold them around 70-80M each, but i would say the drop chances are lower than Omega stones Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeritraVice-KT Posted January 14, 2018 Share Posted January 14, 2018 For someone returning after this long, you're in for a long, hard grind. I also direct you to this thread re: the cash shop question: Observe the unholy beauty of the wallet warrior in their natural habitat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teabags-DN Posted January 24, 2018 Author Share Posted January 24, 2018 After playing for some time, I've come to the conclusion that this isn't the same Aion anymore. I think free-to-play may have ruined some of the aspects I liked about the game. When I paid to play, I couldn't pay to win. I had to earn it all. I was able to fully outfit in spinel gear just by buying the spinel coins.... and most of the dailies don't give spinel coins. Power to the cash shop. I compare this to the old Kahrun gear, where you had to grind, and had some sense of achievement for getting the gear. I was a master chef in the old aion. Now the skill is practically useless. Crafting is pretty useless. I can't even make money with it. I just open my inventory and click on whatever's there that I've gotten from grinding... I want to know whose brilliant idea it was to break your gear if you try to enchant it. This guy should be water-boarded. The instances here sorta suck. They don't have a special theme or mood that's relevant to their location. I'm not exactly sure here... . The solo instances are especially lame. I don't know really, but this doesn't have the same feel as old Aion. There was a lot more to do in the old endgame. I suppose maybe it's nostalgia besting the experience here. I will come back to look at 6.0 but I don't really want to play this right now. I'll catch you guys later in a few months! Thanks for your advice and input Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NathyPelusa Posted January 24, 2018 Share Posted January 24, 2018 33 minutes ago, Teabags-DN said: When I paid to play, I couldn't pay to win. I had to earn it all. And that's exactly what ruined the game for me and so many others, people pay for stuff instead of working for it, ruining the MMO experience of building your character. Sadly, Free-to-play games need income and they get it from the cash shop... besides being appealing to lazy p2w players, they also attract cheaters, 'cause there are no ingame GMs and and if caught and banned (does it even happen?), you can cheat your way up to 75 and gear up easy again. This is not the old Aion. Would give anything for the game to go back to be subscription based, but it's not gonna happen. The best we can hope for is 6.0 brings back the mmo feeling this game once had. For a nice story line and fun dungeons filled with interesting mechanics I would recommend FFXIV, which is where I go whenever I get tired of Aion. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MayBlue-DN Posted January 24, 2018 Share Posted January 24, 2018 Hello! Welcome back to Aion. Hope you are having fun. On 1/11/2018 at 7:36 PM, Teabags-DN said: ...I ran around and grinded out some levels, visited some of the solo instances... First of all: Levels 1-65 is now the introduction to Aion. It goes so fast we will not see many players under level 65 at all. It is like how levels 1-15 used to be. The game starts at level 66. The instances and drops from 1-65 are not needed anymore. I was able to level up an alt to 65 with, mostly, level 20 gear. Do campaign (yellow) quests and a few blue ones to get through the 1-65 intro. On 1/11/2018 at 7:36 PM, Teabags-DN said: 1. What are the late-game instances like now?... The creatures dropped loot, the bosses had phases and required knowledge and a bit of finess + gear. My biggest fear here is that loot from instances can only be unlocked by the cash shop. Starting at level 66, knowledge for late game instances is a must. It is the same Aion. We can quest for coin gear; kill final instance bosses for boss drop gear; PvP for medals to get PvP gear. We do not need the cash shop. On 1/11/2018 at 7:36 PM, Teabags-DN said: 2.What is the economy like? I could craft and sell things to afford my house bills and buy other things. At level 66+ I can earn, and spend, 42 million in an hour easy. Do not let the prices at the broker scare you. Aion combined all crafts into Aetherforging and the old crafting system will be gone in 6.0. Alchemy is the only good craft for now (raise Alchemy up to 480), and ,maybe, Cooking/Construction has a few things still useful. The other crafts give us max level 65 items, and those items are not needed any more. I maxed out Aetherforging (300), and it is not a good way to make Kinah, because the matts are not easy to get and cost too much to buy them off the broker. On 1/11/2018 at 7:36 PM, Teabags-DN said: 3.What's the population like? 4.Is this game dying or thriving? Thanks in advance! Cheers, Allen I'm happy with the server merge. Pre-merge, Tiamat server had a low population, but now (on DN-Elyos) there are people around. It's much better. As for the game "dying or thriving" - we are all in limbo now while we wait for "the game re-sets" with Aion 6.0. Aion 6.0 will bring many players into the game and everyone, new players and 5+ year veterans, will have an equal chance to level up and win. MayBlue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teabags-DN Posted January 24, 2018 Author Share Posted January 24, 2018 The fact that I can sell things from the cash shop and then buy the coins to get the gear, is the final nail in the coffin for me. The economy is bloated and crafting has been destroyed by this. I'm going to wait and hold my breath for Ascent Infinite Realm... which purportedly is made by the creators of old Aion! The trailers look promising. I hope it delivers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryos-DN Posted January 24, 2018 Share Posted January 24, 2018 If you are using that rusted and crooked nail as the only support for your coffin, that coffin will easily will be stolen by grave robbers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KallSu-KT Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 Hmm, AIR seems interesting, although the feeling while watching the trailer was like they put everything in a mixer: (laggy) flying battles, mechanical spiders, dragons (ofc), mecha, gunners, farming simulators, minigames, battles with ships (I didn't see any sailing pirate though). I like the Full-Metal-Alchemist theme, but it seems too huge for my old brain. +1 for the guy that was walking slowly in the battle field. Thanks for the video, I didn't know the title and I enjoyed the view. Next one please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StaNooblaitK-KT Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 Idk why but I never liked trailers for MMOs doesn't show enough for me. Just a bunch of like random stuff. Looked good though, interesting anyways. Obviously I'd have to play or watch gameplay itself to really get a feel on it. I want another MMO but I been playing my fps games again. Let's hope aion can make a comeback in 6.0 cuz ever since I started playing back in like 3.0 Everytime people say the next update would bring aion back on it's feet but it always felt the same, declining. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azzmaria-KT Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 On 24/1/2018 at 0:58 PM, Teabags-DN said: After playing for some time, I've come to the conclusion that this isn't the same Aion anymore. ... Nope is not the same. Actually Aion had some very different phases. - I never tried the one before the free to play. so I can not say so much about that one - but from F2P to more or less the beggining of 4.0 was one game - starting with the plumes and events with engame gear, as rewards, and all the way to 5.8 is another different game - from 6.0 will be another game different to the others. different ideas, different focus, different objetives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teabags-DN Posted January 27, 2018 Author Share Posted January 27, 2018 sigh... well, my little sister is still playing this game. (her character is 'Erratic').... And she's started buggin' me to play. Looks like I'm not escaping after all.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GenericUser9878 Posted January 27, 2018 Share Posted January 27, 2018 On 1/12/2018 at 4:54 AM, Teabags-DN said: I'll look into this stuff. I haven't been able to find an MMO like Aion (I don't think there is one). I'll stick around and investigate. Thanks for the replies! Did you try Tera? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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